The invention relates to an input device for an electrical device.
Input devices are required on electrical devices to specify target conditions of the device. For a cooking appliance the target conditions include the temperature of the cooking compartment, the selection of cooking conditions, such as heat from above, heat from below, use of the fan and the like and for a hob the selection of cooking zones and their temperature.
Traditionally, switches with a rotatable shaft are used for electrical devices, wherein an actuator is fastened at the end of the shaft and the device interprets the rotation of the actuator as an input instruction. Also known is an optical rotary encoder, like in DE 43 11 496 DE, which operates according to the reflection and/or light barrier principle and in which a magnetic detent is obtained. An optical input device is known from DE 10 2006 062 071 B4, which refractively redirects the light emanating from a light source several times and reads out the input of a hand movement on an operating area.
It is the object of the present invention to improve the known embodiments of the input devices. A system which is designed as simply as possible should be provided which can be cleaned easily and which is tolerant to contamination. Furthermore, the user should receive feedback via an input which has been made.